Results of Grand Prix 2013 Holon, Israel

11th Grand Prix of Rhythmic gymnastics series came to an end. The tournament attracted great amount of rhythmic gymnastics fans by strong competitors, especially seniors, who took part not only in the international tournament, but also in Gran Prix: Yana Kudriavtseva, Anna Trubnikova, Margarita Mamun, Maria Titova, Aleksandra Merkulova from Russia, Alina Maksymenko and Victoria Mazur from Ukraine, Melitina Staniouta and Arina Sharopa from Belarus, Silviya Miteva from Bulgaria, Lala Yusifova from Azerbaidzhan, Viktoria Filanovsky and Neta Rivkin from Israel (she pulled out of the tournament because of her illness) etc. All of them could aspire to get the prestigious awards.

It was obvious that Julia Bravikova (Rus) was the leader among the Juniors, but it was quite difficult to define the leader among her senior colleagues.

Claimants for top honors were chosen on the 1st day of the tournament after Grand Prix Individual All-Around among Senior gymnasts: Margarita Mamun, Aleksandra Merkulova, Alina Maksymenko, Silviya Miteva and Melitina Staniouta. It seemed to be difficult to define the winner for judges in the second part of the competitions. But it was not to be. Vexatious mistakes by Melitina Staniouta, Aleksandra Merkulova and Alina Maksymenko (she lost the hoop twice and the ball) fell short of expectations of prizes in All-Around, the path to 2 finals was even closed for the latter gymnast. The firmest were Margarita Mamun, Silviya Miteva and… Viktoria Filanovsky, whose performance was pure, and thus she turned her competitors’ mistakes for her own benefit. Here are the results of Grand Prix Individual exercises.

Finals were held on the 2nd day, which didn’t lack for surprises and strange judges’ decisions. Of course, all the gymnasts, who got the prizes, earned them. We only think that they should get them not in these programs. For example, the performance of Alina Maksymenko with clubs contained mistakes, but she got the gold medal; moreover, her emotional and almost perfect ribbon got the bronze prize (they should be switched). But we should bear in mind the fact that it’s not so easy to notice Alina’s mistakes from the first sight, as first you ‘re hypnotized by her artistry, but after some time you understand, that, perhaps, her performance wasn’t so pure. Apparently the same happened to the judges. It goes without saying, that brilliant Silviya Miteva earned to step on the high pedestal at least once. It’s a pity, but Margarita Mamun pulled out of the competitions because of the injury, though she earned two bronze medals.